The country's second largest software services firm, Infosys will continue to hire about 6,000 engineers annually over next 1-2 years, same as last fiscal, according to a top company official. Infosys has also ramped up its hiring process in the US and European markets as it looks to tap opportunities and tide over visa- related issues.

"we continue to recruit. This year we had a net addition of 6,000 and we expect similar kind of additions over the next 1 or 2 years, depending on the kind of growth you see in the market," Infosys interim-CEO and MD U B Pravin Rao said at an Investor Meeting last week.

The Bengaluru-based firm has been in the eye of a storm over the past few months, with the founders and former board members clashing over alleged corporate governance lapses and irregularities in Infosys' USD 200-million Panaya acquisition.

The spat, which often spilled over into the public domain, led to the then CEO Vishal Sikka as well as former Chairman R Seshasayee and three other board members quitting.

Co-founder Nandan Nilekani was named the non-executive Chairman in a move that was seen as the company bowing to the demands of co-founders and large institutional investors.

After Sikka's exit, Rao assumed the additional charge as interim CEO and MD.

Rao said over one million graduates pass out each year, which may look like a large number but only 20-30 per cent of that is quality talent. At the end of June 2017, Infosys had a total of 1,98,553 employees on its payroll. The company does not provide country-specific headcount.

During the said quarter, Infosys hired 8,645 people at a gross level but its overall headcount was lower by 1,811 people on a net level (which factors in attrition numbers).

Earlier this year, there were reports of layoffs across the IT sector. With Infosys stating that it was stepping up hiring in international markets like the US, there were concerns that it could impact the company's recruitment plans in India.

Infosys had, at that time, stated it planned to hire 20,000 people in 2017.

Infosys has stated that it is in favour of a healthy mix of local and global personnel, even though hiring locals in overseas markets often pushes up operational costs for IT outsourcing companies.

During the investor meeting, Rao said Infosys is also looking at increasing localisation of its workforce and is recruiting about 10,000 people in the next few years and setting up development and innovation hubs in the US.

The US, which is the largest market for Infosys, much like its peers, accounted for over 61 per cent of its top line in June 2017 quarter. Europe accounted for 22.4 per cent of the company's USD 2.65 billion revenue during April-June 2017 quarter.